If you own a Toshiba rear-projection TV, it's now a family heirloom--or a candidate for the junkyard. The company has stopped making RPTVs and will concentrate exclusively on sexy flat LCDs.

It's official. HD DVD players have fallen below the $200 barrier. And we're not talking about that no-name Venturer. The breakthrough model is the Toshiba HD-A2. And the breakthrough retailer is Circuit City. The exact price is $197.99 with free shipping. And no, it's not a refurb.

How does Toshiba plan to move forward in the wake of HD DVD's demise? The company's CEO says improved DVD upconversion is among the strategies to be pursued. Here's a nugget from a Wall Street Journal interview with Atsutoshi Nishida: "If you watch standard DVDs on our players, the images are of very high quality because they include an 'upconverting' feature. And we're going to improve this even more, so that consumers won't be able to tell the difference from HD DVD images. The players would be much cheaper than Blu-ray players too."

Toshiba's first TV based on the Cell microprocessor made its debut at a Japanese trade show this week. The DVR-capable product will hit the shelves in Japan later this year and will make its U.S. debut sometime next year.